1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to automatic clothes dryers and more particularly to an automatic additive dispenser for a clothes dryer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the normal course of utilization of an automatic clothes dryer, it is becoming common to use various additives to reduce or prevent static build-up in the clothes, to soften the clothes and even to apply a scent to the clothes. Various methods have been developed for applying such additives to the clothes load within the dryer, all of which require the placement of an article within the interior of the dryer drum which contains the additive to be dispensed, or the direct spraying of the additive into the dryer drum.
For example, sheets of paper or fabric are available which contain anti-static and softening additives which are designed to be placed in the dryer drum along with the clothes load being dried. U.S. Pat. No. 4,139,475 discloses the use of a package containing a laundry finishing treatment agent which is to be tumbled with the clothes load within the dryer. U.S. Pat. No. 4,004,685 discloses a fabric softener and antistatic agent dispenser for a dryer which is formed into a bar of material which softens at the temperatures normally experienced within the dryer during a drying operation. The bar of conditioning agent is encased in a cloth envelope, and the envelope is mounted to a portion of the dryer drum that rotates with the clothes load.
A disadvantage with the prior methods of applying additives to a clothes load within a dryer is that either a separate charge has to be manually admitted to the interior of the dryer drum for each load, as by introducing new sheets impregnated with additives, or the dispenser in the dryer drum has to be checked periodically to determine if sufficient additive remains which involves locating the dispenser within the drum and somehow determining the amount of additive yet available in the dispenser.